Hello, Friends – This email is the start of something new – a once-a-week email on Friday written by a regular participant in our Fillmore Wings Study Program. Today’s post is from Gretchen Alkema, part of our Tuesday Fillmore Wings discussion group and who often leads our discussions when I need to be away. If you do not wish to receive these Friday emails, scroll down to the bottom of this email and click on “Change your subscriptions to our newsletters.” That will open a box where you can change Subscribe/Unsubscribe to the Fillmore Wings Newsletter and other newsletters we send out. – Mark

Un-Anchoring: The Process and Power of Metaphysical Denials

I come to Fillmore Wings as a layperson who loves God and finds solace in reading the Bible through a metaphysical lens. I did not grow up in a religious home. I was the youngster who enjoyed going to Sunday school after a Saturday night sleep-over at a friend’s house from a church-going family. I learned the songs, memorized some verses, and had the seed of God’s love quietly planted in my heart. Adolescence, family strife, and cultural noise became the scorched earth thwarting the seed’s growth, and a false belief of unworthiness led to many seasons in the wilderness.

Fast forward to Fall of 2022: After years of reading C.S. Lewis, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Meister Eckhart, and Emmet Fox to name a few, I thought “there has to be more of this perspective, and other people who feel called to it.” I dove into the Internet search rabbit hole and landed on the abundant shores of the TruthUnity website. The warmth, clarity, and utility of the Fillmore writings (from both Charles and Myrtle) created a new inlet and outlet of spiritual discovery. I spend the first few years absorbing as much as I could on my own. What a delight when Mark Hicks wrote about the Fillmore Wings content and invited others to join him in prayerfully reading this wealth of metaphysical Christianity. The rest is history…

This past week, the Tuesday Morning Fillmore Wings class covered chapter 11, readings 20-22 that examined the process and power of metaphysical denials as a precursor to affirmations. Here are some of my reflections that were enriched by our group’s discussion.

Denial is a tricky word. To some, it means unawareness of a situation that creates negative effects in one’s daily life. This definition considers “denial” as a condition, a state of unilluminated consciousness about a situation that blocks the flow of inherent life energy. The block is often a function of three strong ideas fixed in one’s mind: 1) details of the situation itself; 2) what one thinks is unacceptable about the situation; and 3) how connected the situations seems to one’s personal identity.

If the energy block begins to emerge in one’s conscious awareness, it can appear as an insurmountable mountain standing in the way of goodness and peace. Even a small revealing of the block can foster two responses. First is a shutting down of the awareness with a stronger commitment to the false belief. The second is a thought awakening that can spark a purposeful shift, an un-anchoring of sorts, away from denial as a condition to denial as an action.

Denial as an action is the gentle process of freeing the mind from false beliefs that have no actual power. Like weeding a field to plant a garden, the action of denial clears away calcified states of inaccurate thoughts, thus making room to establish grace-filled thoughts by way of affirmation. While denial is usually successful when applied tenderly, the movement from denial the condition to denial the action can be quite painful. An analgesic our group discussed that is supported by scripture: slow breathing and deep faith.

In Mark 11, Jesus gives many examples of how to recognize blocked energy in ourselves where denial as a condition may be hiding out. Jesus receives welcoming cheers from the crowd as he enters Jerusalem yet sees that its temple needs purifying from the money changers and dove sellers. He goes to the fig tree with full leaves in search of fruit and finds none, leading him to curse the tree that ultimately withers and dies. A fig tree with full leaves should have fruit—so when it doesn’t, Jesus knows something is off that the showy leaves are covering. I liken it to something a cowboy friend often says: all hat and no horse.

When Peter asks for an explanation, I can almost hear Jesus taking a slow, intentional breath before he implores Peter to have faith in God and describes the next indicated step:

…whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. (Mark 11:23 KJV)

The action of a cleansing denial is to recognize and call out the mountainous false belief in the silence of one’s mind or in the presence of a trusted, closed-mouth friend, counselor, or spiritual advisor. Its power is removal or un-anchoring the energy inside the mountain, which is poured back into the receptive sea of the non-judgmental heart. This recycled energy is now ready to use in planting substantial, grace-filled affirmations of light, life, and love that will bloom in due season.

–Gretchen Alkema
Friday, June 26, 2026

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Hello, again, one more thing – Right now we have three ongoing Fillmore Wings groups meeting and another scheduled to start next month. YOU ARE WELCOME to join any or all of them. THERE IS NO PREREQUESITE for entering a class. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE, but we ask you to identify your name in the Zoom session and try to turn on video if possible. To join in, go the Events page for days and times; look for these classes:

• Sundays–Unity Correspondence Course with Marty Keller and Capital City Unity
• Mondays (starting July 13)–Fillmore Correspondence School Christ, The Only Begotten of the Father with Dara Bermick, LUT
• Tuesdays–Fillmore Wings Study Program with Rev. Mark Hicks
• Fridays–Fillmore Fridays with Rev. Melissa Hill Greenbaum